Mac Maharaj

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After a decade of unprecedented growth and development, the insistence on positive news remains a significant threat to press freedom in sub-Saharan Africa.
By Mohamed Keita

A newspaper displayed in the Ikoyi district of Lagos on September 30, 2013, tells of a deadly attack on a college in northeast Nigeria by suspected Boko Haram militants. Coverage of the group can be sensitive in Nigeria. (Reuters/Akintunde Akinleye)

Johannesburg, July 30, 2012--South African authorities should immediately drop a
criminal investigation against three newspaper journalists who have sought to
report details on a multi-billion-dollar arms scandal, the Committee to Protect
Journalists said today.

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New York, November 21, 2011--The
spokesman for South African President Jacob Zuma filed a criminal complaint on
Saturday against two journalists investigating his alleged role in a $US5
billion international arms deal that became embroiled in scandal,
according to news reports.

Weekly
investigative paper Mail & Guardian
sought comment last week from presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj, also a member
of the ruling African National Congress, regarding information leaked from a
confidential 2004 police deposition about his role in an arms deal, editor Nic
Dawes told the local press. Maharaj
asked the journalists how they obtained the information and referred the
inquiry to his lawyers, BDK Attorneys, according to news reports. The lawyers threatened the newspaper with criminal
prosecution under a 1998 law punishing unauthorized disclosure of a suspect's
testimony in an investigation with a prison term of up to 15 years, news
reports said.